User:Phoenix79/Today in Wikipedia

Today is October 17, 2024

Today's featured content

Changi Airport MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station in Changi, Singapore. The station directly connects to Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 of Changi Airport and serves other airport amenities. Glass atrium walls at the ends of the station support an illuminated bridge that spans the island platform while allowing maximum sunlight into the station. A rail connection to the airport had been planned in the 1980s but these plans were shelved due to the low financial viability of such a branch. With increased air traffic to Changi Airport and the proposal of Terminal 3 in 1994, the plans were revived, and finalised in 1996. Construction for the line began in 1998. The station opened on 8 February 2002 with lower passenger demand than expected, but it continues to provide an alternative transport option to the airport. In May 2019 it was announced that the station would be incorporated into the Thomson–East Coast Line by 2040 as it extends to the airport's Terminal 5. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

1912 memento dollar

... that the first silver dollars of the Republic of China were crudely designed mementos (example pictured)?
... that the Haitian Revolution began when Cécile Fatiman sacrificed a black pig, a ritual that was later repeated by Haitians resisting the United States occupation and the Duvalier dynasty?
... that a shark cost a competitor a silver medal in the spearfishing event at the 2014 Micronesian Games?
... that the number 1 is its own square, square root, and factorial?
... that Deep Cut Gardens in New Jersey contains a stone replica of Mount Vesuvius that once erupted smoke at the behest of mobster Vito Genovese?
... that the Hillbilly Thomists, a band made up of friars from the Dominican Order, reached the number-two spot on Billboard's bluegrass chart?
... that Pituamkek National Park Reserve, Canada's newest national park, protects a chain of barrier islands that have been used for fishing and hunting by the Mi'kmaq for 4,000 years?
... that the Palace Theater light bulb has been running since 1908?
... that a sensational story in 1888 claimed that James Wickham, a British scientist, introduced two whales to the Great Salt Lake in an attempt to start a whale oil industry?

Selected anniversaries

October 17

Lake Burley Griffin

1604 – German astronomer Johannes Kepler began observations of an exceptionally bright object, now known as Kepler's Supernova, that had appeared in the constellation Ophiuchus.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: British general John Burgoyne's Saratoga campaign ended with his surrender to the Americans, later convincing France to enter the war in alliance with the United States.
1814 – A wooden beer-fermenting vat in London burst, destroying a second vat and causing a large flood of at least 128,000 imperial gallons (580,000 l; 154,000 US gal) of porter that killed eight people.
1914 – Off the coast of the Dutch island of Texel, a British naval squadron sank the German 7th Half Flotilla of torpedo boats in the Battle off Texel.
1964 – Prime Minister Robert Menzies inaugurated the artificial Lake Burley Griffin (pictured) in the centre of the Australian capital Canberra.

Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke (d. 1781)
Haritina Korotkevich (b. 1882)
Don Coryell (b. 1924)
James Scott (b. 1947)

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Today's news

Daron Acemoglu

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to Daron Acemoglu (pictured), Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson for their studies of global inequality.
The comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) is visible in the western sky after sunset.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang.

Today's Picture of the Day

Picture of the day

The greenbottle blue tarantula (Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens) is a species of spider in the tarantula family, Theraphosidae. It is native to the Paraguaná Peninsula in the Venezuelan state of Falcón. The spider features metallic blue legs and a blue-green carapace, which give it its name. They are very active and fast-growing animals that are particularly attractive to hobbyists. This mounted greenbottle blue tarantula female is part of the collection of the Muséum de Toulouse in France.Photograph credit: Didier Descouens

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